Dr. Thorne's Lost Mine..

Guaymas is an old city. Here, in 1854, over the housetops and in the streets, French cannons and musketry roared against a Mexican army commanded by the kind General Yanez, the defender of Guaymas, whose statue stands by the waterfront today in commemoration of the Mexican victory which turned France forever from New World shores. Guaymas is a beautiful city, where the mountains, the desert and the bay meet in affectionate embrace. The bay is quaint and colorful, packed with fishing boats, large and small, tramp freighters, and an occasional Mexican coast guard boat, officious looking affairs, very aloof and snobbish.

Donkey carts jolt along the streets of Guaymas, for the most part ancient and narrow streets, as if time and destination had no meaning. Service stations, appendages of the motor age, shatter the illusion, reminding one of the present century and of our brisker modern times.

A few miles down the bay from Guaymas is the railroad town of Empalme. There is a constant flow of trade between the two towns and the bay shore between the towns is dotted with natives fishing from the shore, bridges or from small boats. At Empalme the great trains traveling between Nogales and Guadalajara pause for refreshment.

SONORANS speak of Alamos as the ancient and beautiful city, one of the illustrious places on the west coast of Mexico, whose glory is now departed. Its great wealth and great families may have vanished, but today Alamos is worthy of an afternoon in the itinerary of any traveler in Sonora. There are many interesting places off the main roads in Sonora Altar, Ures, Arispe, Moctezuma. Tonichi, the Tiburon Island, and Alamos, to name a few whose peculiar charm and personality is worthy the quest of the venturesome traveler. Alamos is from a storybook, whose pages have been yellowed with age. When we turn those pages we find a city that grew up by great silver mines, fabulously rich, whose treasures were depleted toward the end of last century. Alamos was built of brick, solidly and strong. Her builders had learned some of their trade and some of their tricks in far-off Spain, for here is distinctive architecture. Here a painter or a poet can indulge beauty and fancy's wild flight. This is a place to dream in.

Cobblestone streets serve today and tell of better times. The narrow streets and passages, ancient lamps and lamp lighters, and empty balconies whisper tales of other days. Yesterday the music of Bach and Beethoven came with grand pianos, hermetically sealed, from France, by way of sailing vessels and the Straits of Magellan. Today the music is in the wind in the palm trees and a few guitars. Several hundred people now dwell where thousands dwelt before.

The journey to Alamos has its lustre. You can go by automobile from Guaymas, but only during the dry season. It is best to take the train at Emplame, near Guaymas, for Navojoa, 90 miles south, then hire a car or take the auto stage to Alamos about 40 miles east of Navojoa, in the mountains. Travel costs are nominal.

Trains and railway stations in Sonora are interesting. In the Mexican towns and cities the arrival and departure of a train is a big event, a casual everyday occurence taking on the excitement of something of great importance.

Navojoa is near the Mayo River, in the land of the Mayo Indians. Twenty miles north of Navojoa is the Yaqui River, where the Yaqui Indians have their great farming empire. Here is Ciudad Obregon, the modern farm metropolis of Sonora, busy with major agricultural development.

From Navojoa, the train goes south to what is a great world of beauty and mystery and tropical lure, to places large and small whose names have the roll of Thunder and the lilt of gay tunes-Masiaca, Culiacan, Mazatlan, Acaponeta, Yago, Tepic, Compostela, Ixtlan, and Guadalajara. One never catches up with the far horizons when traveling in Sonora and Mexico.